By Jane Elgass and Rebecca A. Doyle
News and Information Services

The University took a key step May 21 in positioning itself to be a national leader in research and education in the life sciences when the Board of Regents approved the creation of an Institute for the Study of Biological Complexity and Human Values.

Creation of the Institute and an accompanying cross-disciplinary and collaborative Life Sciences Initiative follows recommendations made in February by the Life Sciences Commission. The 20-member group was charged in May 1998 with assessing the state of life sciences at the U-M and recommending new directions and collaborations.

President Lee C. Bollinger noted that the Institute would be "a distinct academic unit with reporting and governance structures that ensure academic excellence and academic integration with the University community."

President Bollinger plans within a year to recruit and appoint an Institute director, define the organizational structure of the Institute, develop plans for new physical facilities and launch some Institute-related activities.

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown of Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, the firm that is developing a master plan for the University, presented to the Regents several proposed building sites for the Institute. The plans include parking facilities, two non-laboratory buildings–one for academics and one for a cafeteria–and one laboratory building that would encompass all equipment that would be necessary for state-of-the-art research.

Four deans told the Regents what the Life Sciences Initiative would mean not only to students, but also to faculty and staff 'in their areas.

LS&A Interim Dean Pat Gurin told the Regents that some may wonder why a new institute is necessary if there already are pockets of research going on in the life sciences all over the University. The new institute will offer a great opportunity "for the integration and mutual enrichment of applied and theoretical basic science," she said.

Stephen Director, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, said that several areas in engineering, especially the Biomedical Engineering Department, already can claim a close connections to life science research and have great potential for contributing to and gaining from the Institute. He also cited the MicroElectroMechanical Systems projects that have enabled scientists and technicians to reduce entire mechanical systems to miniscule sizes that can be implanted in the body to replace defective human systems–such as the cochlear implant that allows deaf patients to hear.

Engineers are also working with the School of Dentistry on tissue generation that Director said would allow growth of a padent's cells on an implantable and biodegradable matrix that may replace damaged tissue or organs.

With the expected completion of the mapping of the human genome fast approaching, Medical School Dean Allen Lichter said, the U-M faced a fateful decision: "We have the choice--and we have said this as a faculty--to be a very good place with a lot of money in the bank or a great place with a little bit less money. And when we put it up to a vote, our faculty would rather be a great place with a zero or two less on our bank book than a not-so-great place with the world's largest reserve."

William Kotowicz, dean of the School of Dentistry, said that as one of the campus's smaller schools, Dentistry looks forward to the opportunities for greater collaboration across disciplines that the new initiative facilitates.

Information about the Institute is available at: www.umich.edu/pres/LifeSciencesReport/